THE END
by Jennifer10
Summary: The epilogue to the epic...
1. Chapter 1

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_Hey, y'all! Recently, my life has taken a turn for the insanely busy. I am teaching full time while getting my teaching credentials. I have also recently joined several different social and volunteer committees and in my spare time have also begun working on an original version of this epic-which is why I've taken down all the other stories (and of course, if it gets published, you will all be required to buy it. Seriously!) But yeah, _

u___nfortunately, I no longer have the time to devote to this epic and after much thought, I figured I would do a little mini ending for y'all...sorry if I sound totally self important, but I just wanted to end it and wrap up loose ends. This will eventually be taken down as well...but enjoy!_

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** SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2019**

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. The weather was perfect, not too warm, not too cold, just perfect. It's how she always imagined it would be as a little girl standing in front of her mirror, twirling around in a dress and wearing a white napkin on her head. She grew up smiling and dreaming in the face of every obstacle and there were obstacles. More than one or two that that were thrown her way. These obstacles came with tears and heartache. These moments could have shattered a weaker person, brought them down to their knees, but not this girl. This was a girl who was known for an almost inhuman level of inner strength. After all she had been through, there was very little that break her. There were also moments she wasn't planning for but the arrival of changed her life in ways she had never even dreamed of while being four and smiling at herself in the mirror of her bedroom. It was her day. Her wedding day and it would be the day she had been planning ever since he slipped that ring on her finger with her then six year old daughter watching, beaming. Her daughter had known all long he was going to propose to her while they took that celebratory vacation to celebrate her educational acheivements. It still amazed her that her daughter who could not keep a secret to save her life, kept that from her. She later learned that this secret was kept through the well known art of child bribery which included candy and toys, but she at the time she was still amazed. It took them two years to plan the wedding and now here both bride and groom were, two almost thirty year olds (she would be reaching that milestone in July, he in September) that been the best of friends for twenty four years, an unexpected couple would now be joined together as husband and wife.

The wedding was a fabulous affair, intimate though with only close friends and family. The bride's mother was her matron of honor, her step sisters and the groom's little sister were bridesmaids and her young daughter who was now a beaming eight year old was her maid of honor. She wanted the two most important females in her life, her daughter and mother, to have the most important titles. Her friends, her favorite girls were there, sitting in the front row with their husbands or boyfriends, crying and as happy as the bride as herself. She had earned this moment. She had worked hard, had seen the worst in people and had seen the best yet had somehow never lost that sense of optimism that she had always held so dear. The girls had all decided to wear shades of pink to show a sense of unity. They sat in the front watching as the bride and groom, whom they both loved tried to get through their emotional ceremony which was proving difficult.


	2. Chapter 2

** Lori Trespin **

The Asian Hottie as she had been known in college would be turning the big 3-0 in October of 2019. Currently, she was enjoying the last four months of being 29. She had made plenty of big changes in her twenties and was finally heading into place where she felt settled. After graduating college in 2011, she had moved back to Southern California. She lived in Los Angeles with her boyfriend at the time, Oliver. She had gotten a job at job/temp placement firm which she both loved and hated. She loved her coworkers, because friends with all of them. If it had not been for them, she probably would have quit her job on day one. She spent her days reading resumes, doing mock interviews and sending people to companies that needed a temp. She would always get slightly jealous of the jobs she was sending people to, feeling they sounded far more fabulous than what she was currently doing. There was also something about living in Los Angeles that wasn't making her happy. She thought it would make her happy. She figured it should make her happy, but she missed Boston. She missed the seasons and the feel of the city. Living in Los Angeles was actually depressing to her. Even after she and Oliver broke up because they just grew apart, she still tried to like Los Angeles. She joined a local band and began singing with them. Several co-workers invited her to join their beach volleyball team, which she did. She dated a few different guys and hung out with Liz, Julie and Kendall...and sometimes Jen and Kelly were in town. She tried everything but nothing was working she knew the cold, hard truth: she was in the wrong city. She gave it four years and it was the evening of her twenty sixth birthday, October 1st, 2015, she decided she needed to make a change.

They had all been there, her favorite girls or some of them had been. Kelly was on the last leg of her tour promoting her second album, _Breaking _Away. Jennie was in Nashville finishing up a movie she was working on and Miranda had stayed in New York after college. So it was just her, Julie, Lizzie and Kendall. Lori had decided to break the news to the girls as they shared drinks and raw fish at a popular sushi restaurant request. Lori knew that it was something she needed to tell them.

"So I have news," Lori smiled.

"Are you and Oli getting back together?" Lizzie asked.

"No, we aren't. I broke up with Oli three and half years ago. I've dated two other guys since then," Lori smiled.

"I know, but Oli was the best," Lizzie smiled.

Lori smiled as well. He was the best. Lori and Oliver had made the move right after college in 2011. Gordo had told them moving in together was a dumb move but they didn't listen. They had lived together in an apartment with six other people for two years of college. They figured this would be similar. They found a place they loved together and in the fall of 2011, the two moved three thousand miles away and set up home in a lovely one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles which Lori furnished, finding it to be such a therapeutic task. She spent hours picking out furniture and decorating the place to make it theirs. She loved that apartment but it soon became apparent that she loved that apartment more than Oliver.

It hadn't started out that way. The first few months in L.A. were fantastic. They were both unemployed, trying to find work and living off their parents support. They would cook together and go to movies and just be together. Lori remembered her twenty second birthday quite fondly as he took her for a picnic up near the Hollywood sign. It was cold but romantic. But then both got jobs, jobs that required long hours. Oliver got a job as the Webmaster for E! Online. He was in charge of everything that went on the website and he loved it. He would leave for work at eight am and not get back home until seven, eight at night, exhausted. Lori's job started at seven am because she needed to start putting temps at various companies and her job ended at five and sometimes she would perform with her band or play volleyball after work. So either she would be back when Oliver was asleep or if she'd be asleep by the time Oliver got home and would be gone when he woke up. They quite simply grew apart and it broke Lori's heart. She had wanted it to work out but eight months after they both moved to Los Angeles, they decided to break up. Oliver decided to move out because Lori had put in the most work in that apartment and it was rightfully hers. At first it was definitely hard to live in that apartment alone, but after awhile, she got used to it and it would be tough to leave.

"He was….and I'm thrilled we're still friends but…I have other news," Lori said.

"What?" Lizzie asked.

"I'm moving. To Boston," Lori said and the girls all stared at her. Julie, Kendall and Lizzie seemed crushed by the news. "I'm not happy here. I love you girls….but I miss Boston. I'm moving in May. Seven months. I have some leads for jobs and...and I have friends there from college. With the exception of Oliver and Gordo, the rest of the Harvard Eight still lives on the East Coast. I'm gonna look for a place but I think it's where I need to be."

And that was it. Seven months later, Lori had a big farewell bash, surrounded by everyone who could make it, Kelly and Jennie were the two who were absent. Then Lori left. She got on a plane and landed in Boston to start a new life and it felt right. She got a job as a project manager for a pharmaceutical company which she surprisingly enjoyed. She didn't expect to like something like that but she did, she loved it and thrived. She was promoted, given more work and it was during a pharmaceutical conference where she met a man whom she was now living with and was currently her guest at the wedding.

Lori really was never that single girl. She tried. Every single time she would break up with a guy, she would make a vow to be single which never lasted long. When she landed in Boston, she dated a musician for a year and a half. They broke up because they never saw each other. Soon after the break up, she went to a conference in Las Vegas for work and there she saw a skinny freckly boy sitting at a table reading a stack of materials. She smiled as she had a briefcase filled with the same materials.

"Light reading?" Lori asked as she sat at the table at him.

The guy looked up at her with a smile, a beautiful bright smile that made Lori melt a little. He seemed to be momentarily stunned that Lori was talking to him and then laughed.

"Yes," the guy said.

Lori sat with him. "Yeah, I was reading late last night. I felt like a such nerd. I was in my room and I kept thinking that last time I was in Vegas was for my friend's twenty first birthday on New Years Eve and now flash forward seven years and little did I know my next trip to Vegas would involve drugs and not the fun kind."

"I know the feeling. Wait, it's been seven years since you were last in Vegas?"

"Yeah….and I lived in Los Angeles for five years."

"That's sad."

"It is….it's just, I was always busy or working."

"I know the feeling."

"Besides if I had my choice, I'd rather go to a beach then a desert."

"Me too, although my pale ass doesn't like anything that involves sun."

Lori laughed, "I'm Lori."

"Rick. So you lived in L.A.? Where do live now? "

"Boston."

"Me too."

"Yeah, where did you go to school?" Rick asked.

"Cambridge," Lori said.

"Harvard?"

"Yes."

"So did I."

"You did not."

"I did! Class of 2011. I was number one in the class, thank you very much."

"Wait, Rick….Gregory."

"Yeah."

"My best friend, David Gordon, idolized you. You were his hero."

"I had no life."

The two laughed as they continued to talk and get to know each other in the midst of the convention. After the convention, the two flew back to Boston where the relationship continued. It was the easiest relationship Lori had ever had and she had been one to have many. Rick and Lori were best friends, it felt very much how she and Oliver were at the beginning and this time they had the added bonus of being in the same field. They had long conversations about various projects and both seemed to understand each other which made them entertaining dinner dates to anyone not in their field.

When Lori had gotten the invitation to the wedding, she had debated asking Rick. They had really had only been dating a year and a half and while it seemed like the right thing to do, she was wondering if he saw their relationship in the same way she did. So many times, she had misread the situation when it came to boys and did not want to do the same with Rick. She was thrilled when he said yes to her offer and now there they were, sitting side by side. She was in a long rose colored gown with her hair now auburn and long. Rick had decided to match her and wear a pink bowtie which she loved.

"You know," Rick said, whispering in Lori's ear. "I was thinking, when we get married, we should have pharmaceutical themed centerpieces."

Lori grinned looking at him. She looked back up at her two friends standing together, getting ready to say their I Do's and then back at him.

"What? Like a bottle of Xanax on every table?" Lori asked.

"Yeah."

"Hmmm, okay, let me take care of the centerpieces," Lori smirked.

Rick nodded as he grabbed her hand and kissed the top of her head. She never regretted her decision to move back to Boston and now here she was with a man that she really could see herself marrying and she had never thought that before with any guy she had ever dated. In high school, there had been Kevin, Kyle and Stephen. Kyle and Stephen she knew had expiration dates. She and Kyle had a very typical high school relationship, filled with drama and tears. Stephen was there just to keep her from falling apart completely when Kevin passed. He had a purpose. Kevin, she never thought of marriage with. She never thought of the future with him, just getting through the day and when he passed away, it killed her. It took her a long time before she was ready to open up like that again. Then in college, there was Rich, Gordo, Josh and Oliver and she secretly knew each one would end eventually, even her relationship with Oliver, although she hoped it wouldn't. Rich and Josh were rebounds and Gordo, well, she always knew his heart belonged to someone else, no matter how much he tried to deny it. Then after college, there was the continuation of her relationship with Oliver, then that ended and there were two other relationships and then the musician in Boston and now Rick. She smiled as she thought of the number of relationships she had had in her life, there were eleven different relationships which made Lori feel a bit dirty but she did not regret a single one because each relationship brought her to this moment, sitting at the wedding of her best friend, holding hands with a man she loved more deeply than she had loved anyone, including Kevin.


	3. Chapter 3

**Miranda**

Miranda was bursting at the seams when she noticed Rick kiss Lori on the head. She looked towards, Rob, her own husband, with a pleading look.

"Stop," Rob said.

"But….I can't hold it in much longer and we're at a wedding," she whispered.

"Let him have his moment."

"Why?" Miranda asked.

"Seriously?" Rob asked, giving her a look.

Miranda let out a little pout as Rob wrapped his arm around her and kissed her. She smiled as she looked over at Lori and then back up front to the bride and groom. She was thrilled for Lori and this was a hard secret to keep. She loved Lori and Rick so much and thought Rick was perfect for her best friend. She especially loved the ring Rick picked out for Lori, after all she had helped pick it out. He had been in New York for some drug meeting when they picked out the ring. She wasn't quite sure what he or Lori for that matter did, she always zoned out when they talked about it with Rob over their twice a month trips to visit New York. It had something to do with selling medical equipment and various drugs to hospitals and doctors, it bored her to tears so she never listened although she did find it cute that both Lori and Rick would try to sell Rob whatever medical stuff they had and because they worked for different companies, they both tried to convince Rob their stuff was better. She found the whole thing amusing and often Lori won because Rob thought his hospital needed her equipment or drugs more, and then Rick would have to buy Lori a drink. If he won, she'd buy him a drink. The only part of that mumbo jumbo that Miranda ever paid attention to was that Lori and Rick bantered like a married couple and were adorable. She knew all the best friend's packed dating history, even the part where she had dated a mutual friend of theirs but there was something about her and Rick that just felt right to Miranda and she had a good sense about these things. It had been during one of their double dates when Lori and Rick were staying with Miranda and Rob for the weekend when Miranda first discovered that Rick had bigger plans for Lori.

"Alright, alright…" Rob said. Miranda was bored listening to yet another sales pitch between Lori and Rick.

"My product is better it is less intrusive for the patient-"

"Mine is less expensive for the doctor," Rick said, cutting Lori off.

"It is not that much more expensive and the goal is to make any patient who goes to the hospital feel like they are having a satisfactory experience," Lori said.

"People don't go to a hospital for the ambience and the experience," Rick said.

"Okay, okay…both of you make good arguments but I am thinking about the needs of our hospital and I like….. Lori's pitch better. Call me Monday and we'll figure out the logistics," Rob grinned.

"Boo yah! Yeah, this is why I rock at my job," Lori laughed.

"Because you get your potential clients drunk and get them to buy things?" Rick asked.

"Exactly….I'm like a whore, but classier," Lori joked.

"Now can we discuss other things?" Miranda asked. "Like the wedding we're going to in less than a month. Can you believe those two are finally getting married? So strange."

"Yep," Lori said finishing off her glass of wine and looking over at Rick, "baby, I need another glass of wine and you owe me."

Rick smiled and shook his head as he stood up. He looked over at Miranda.

"Fine, hey Ran….come with me. I want to pick out a special drink for Lori," Rick said.

"Do not spit in it!" Lori yelled.

Rick laughed as he and Miranda got up and walked over to the bar. Miranda ordered herself and Rob drinks and Rick did the same for himself and Lori, but it was then that the conversation turned to a topic Miranda hadn't quite been expecting.

"Hey, Ran. Can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"Alright, you know…we're going to L.A. for that wedding in a few weeks."

"Yeah."

"Well, I was thinking….that maybe Lori and I could go down up to Santa Barbara after the wedding and I would um….propose."

"Oh my G-d! Are you joking?"

"No. But I need to buy a ring and I-I'll be in New York for a business meeting next Wednesday. Are you free?"

"I think so."

"Can you keep it a secret?"

"Ummm…."

She did tell Rob immediately after the meal when Lori and Rick were safely in their guest room and she tried desperately to keep it a secret, even though it was killing her. When Rick came into New York, she helped him pick out an amazing ring and took pictures. It had been two weeks since that ring purchase and it was the longest she had ever kept a secret.

Life for Miranda Sanchez Blackman had seemed to go in a trajectory she had never expected post college. First, there was the fact that she was even graduating in the first place that amazed everyone. She had almost been thrown out of school because of her run in with drugs and the law, but there she was in the spring of 2011 standing in Yankee Stadium, dressed in a purple cap and gown and officially becoming a member of the Class of 2011. Her parents cried, her sisters cried, even her friends cried. Everyone was so proud, and no one was more proud then she was. She even had a job lined up post college. She would be working in A&R in the New York Division of Warner Music. Living in New York was also something she had not expected to do. She loved New York and had some desire to live there but she was afraid of being seen as that girl, the girl that stays in a state because of boy. Rob wanted to stay in New York. He had gotten into the medical school at NYU and wanted to stay. He had asked Miranda to stay in New York with him and perhaps live with him which was something she balked at but it was a conversation with Lizzie and Lori that changed her mind.

"You like him," Lori said.

"He likes you….Miranda, it's okay to stay somewhere because you like a guy," Lizzie said.

"No. Girls who do that are pathetic and desperate and-"

"Hey!" Lori said, after all this was right after college and Lori had been planning to move to Los Angeles to live with Oliver.

"Sorry and you know what Lori, I don't think you should move to Los Angeles. I think you'll be back in Boston before you know it."

"I will not," Lori said.

"Yeah you will….trust me but anyway, I love Rob, I do but…who knows if we'll be together forever," Miranda said.

"Take a risk….oh, here's my gift," Lori said handing her a box. Miranda opened it and stared. It was a stone with the words "LOVE PEACE HAPPINESS" sketched in it. It brought tears to her eyes. It looked like the stone that she had tried to pawn for drugs a few years earlier. She was in a dark place, a place she didn't think she would ever get out of.

"Wait….is this the-"

"No, Ran. I carved one for you…but made it look exactly like the one my grandfather gave to me. I wanted you to have one," Lori smiled.

Miranda started crying as she hugged Lori. That gift meant a lot. She kept with her and it was the gift that really convinced her she needed to stay in New York. She even placed it on the bedside of her brand new New York apartment so she could look at it every single day. It kept her going. She knew in heart New York was where she would be and when Rob proposed to her on a trip to Mexico to celebrate the end of her probation in the summer of 2012, she knew everything was going to fall into place.

It was hard at first, the relationship between Rob and Miranda, after all Rob was a med student for many of those years and there were times when Miranda was footing the bill. While they got engaged when they were twenty three, it took another three years for them to make it down the aisle. It was a beautiful wedding and all their friends came out and at this point, Lori had indeed moved back to Boston only a few weeks before their wedding and was dating some musician guy that Miranda liked but knew wouldn't last. She loved having her friend on the East Coast and she loved being married to Rob. She had never thought of herself as the marrying kind, but being able to call Rob her husband felt right and another thing that felt right? Becoming a mother herself. While she wasn't the first to have child within the group, that honor would always belong to Kendall, she was the third. Miranda discovered she was pregnant soon after Rob graduated from med school. She had planned to be a working mother. Much like the declaration she had made when she had graduated college that she would never stay anywhere for a guy, she made a declaration that she would be the woman who balanced motherhood and a career very well, but then as Miranda should have known, her plans never seemed to fall in line with what life had in store for her. She gave birth to Kayla Rose Blackman three days after her twenty eighth birthday and holding that child in her arms, she wanted nothing more than to just hold her forever and she soon found herself doing something she never thought she would do, her maternity leave became permanent and she decided to be a stay at home mom, raising baby Kayla. She wanted to spend every moment of every day just watching her. Rob was thrilled as well by his two favorite girls. Kayla would be turning two now in a month and Rob and Miranda had made another big decision, they felt it was time to give Kayla a sister.

They had taken Kayla to Los Angeles but not for the wedding. They wanted her to see Los Angeles for the first time and to see some of her West Coast relatives. Kayla with her jet black hair, pale skin and dark brown eyes was a perfect mixture of Rob and Miranda, Miranda thought she looked exactly like Snow White. Because Kayla was too little, she was staying with Miranda's sister while Miranda and Rob were at the wedding and Miranda missed her.

"Should I call my sister?" Miranda asked, whispering.

"She's fine," Rob said.

Miranda smiled as she reached down to her little silk purse by her feet and pulled out her phone. She clicked on the pictures menu and smiled at her daughter staring back at her. It wasn't at all how Miranda had planned, but it was working out better than she had hoped.


	4. Chapter 4

**Jennie**

Jennie noticed Miranda stare at her phone and put it back in her purse. Jennie smiled as she noticed the picture of Kayla smiling from Miranda's phone. She found it slightly amusing that her best friend who always tried so desperately to prove how strong and unbreakable she was could just become a complete puddle at the sight of her daughter, of course she couldn't blame her. When her two children were born she felt very much the same way and she still did. Jennie looked back towards her fiancée, James sitting behind her with her, Allison who six, almost seven, and Daniel who was three. They were just there for the ceremony and then they would drop them off at James mother's house to spend the night while they partied away at the reception.

The life of an actress, that's the life Jennie had been living for twelve years now. She had done her string of independent films but it was _Blonde_, a comedy about a sorority sister turned Harvard lawyer that shot Jennie into the A List. She had filmed that movie the summer of 2011 and it was released the summer of 2012. She was twenty three and soon found herself making a million dollars per movie. Ryan, at first, seemed okay going along for the ride. He liked his independent movies and Jennie enjoyed her ride up. Twenty three was a crazy year for Jennie. Soon after _Blonde _became a huge summer blockbuster, she found out she was pregnant in September of 2012. She and Ryan immediately got married a few months later, not wanting to have their child out of wedlock. Their daughter, Allison was born in June of 2013. Then three years after Allison was born in October of 2016, she had her son, Daniel. She was twenty seven and considered one half of the Golden Hollywood family. It was the life Jennie had been dreaming about since she was a child. She had always wondered if she could have a career and family and her she was doing exactly that. Magazines referred to her and Ryan as a Golden Couple and they were often asked questions about how to make a Hollywood marriage work. Jennie loved that she was one half of a Golden Couple.

Then there was Oscar night. She had just had Daniel five months earlier and had been determined to lose her baby weight before Oscar night and she did. She looked fantastic and loved walking down the red carpet with Ryan on her arm talking about the movie and of course, her diet regimen. She had been a movie a year earlier about the life of a troubled country singer and she had played the wife. She had to sing for the role and made Kelly give her vocal lessons while Kelly was in the middle of promoting her second album. It worked and now Jennie had been winning award after award for her portrayal as the embattled wife of this country singer and it seemed that she had the Oscar locked. She was thrilled and Ryan seemed happy being there on her arm, she was too busy enjoying it all and then it happened. She won. She was twenty eight, having given birth five months earlier and they called her name. She barely remembered what happened.

"And the Oscar goes to….Jennifer Woods."

Jennie had gone up on stage and she was shaking. Sure there had been those whispers and in the back of her mind, she thought she might win but the thoughts were nothing compared to it actually happening. She stood there, staring at the golden statue in her hand. This is what made it all worthwhile, missing college, missing moments, always working and it came down to this point. She had thought she had achieved everything and could not imagine it getting much better and it didn't.

A few months after that surreal moment, her world came crashing down around her. She had been home with Allison and Daniel, taking a much needed break before her next movie when the call came.

"Hello?" She asked, cradling her nine month old son in her arms. Her four year old daughter, Allison was playing at her feet, "reading" a big plush book with pictures of animals in it.

"Hi, Jennifer Woods? This is Mary Rogers at _Star_. I was wondering if you had anything to say?"

"About?" Jennie asked, wondering how a tabloid magazine got her number.

"Ryan's affair with actress, Brandi Cornell?" Mary asked.

"Goodbye," Jennie said, hanging up.

She shook her head, annoyed. But within seconds having an affair, the phone rang again.

"Hello?" She asked, sounding annoyed.

"Jennie? This is Elyse."

"Hi, Elyse," Jennie breathed a sigh of relief. Elyse was her publicist.

"Hey…have you heard the news?" Elyse asked.

"What news?" Jennie asked.

"Crap," Elyse said. "Alright, _Star_ Magazine is running pictures of Brandi Cornell and your husband kissing-"

"They're filming a movie. They're playing a couple."

"It's not a movie shot."

"They're not having an affair. I just had his son nine months ago….Allie turned four a month ago."

"I know. But…they're having an affair. I'm so sorry."

Jennie hung up and felt herself getting nauseous. She walked into the living room, still holding her son. Her daughter followed. She sat down and Allie climbed up on to Jennie. She felt herself trying to breathe. Things had been so perfect, so wonderful. Just a few months earlier she had won and Oscar, and now her husband was cheating?

When Ryan got home from filming that night, she confronted him about the rumor and he admitted it. It was the longest night of her life. She and Ryan fought and she cried. He was apparently tired of living in her shadow and being Mr. Woods. He wasn't happy and wanted out. He wanted a divorce and in August of 2017, he filed. This shook Jennie to her core and like she had years earlier in high school when Brad broke up with her, she found herself losing weight from not eating due to the depression over her divorce. Her face was plastered on magazines with "JENNIE'S HEARTACHE" printed under it. People wanted her comment, she wouldn't give it. Ryan moved out of the house he and Jennie shared and moved in with Brandi. Jennie spent her days in her room crying, listening to Kelly's third album which was considered her most depressing work to date. She wasn't sure she would ever get out of her funk when Lizzie, Kendall , Julie and Kelly stopped by one afternoon. Kendall brought over Kendra who was five at the time to play with Daniel and Allie. They found Jennie lying on her couch on the dark, Kelly's voice blaring from the stereo.

"Wow, this is the most depressing CD ever….critics were right," Kendall smirked as the girls walked in and Kendra ran upstairs to play.

"Hey, I had every right to be depressed and angry. I was royally screwed," Kelly said.

"Well, this next album sounds like it will be more fun," Kendall said.

"There is a song called, _Cry _on it," Kelly said.

"Sounds good," Jennie said.

"Jen-" Kelly began.

"I thought it was supposed to be better than this," Jennie cried.

"It is! You are an Oscar winning actress with two beautiful kids," Lizzie said.

"And the public is on your side. They think Ryan is a pig and Brandi is a homewrecker-"

"She is," Jennie said cutting off Kendall.

"They're rooting for you," Kendall said.

"Yeah….the public thinks I'm a fat, ungrateful pig who needs to lighten up," Kelly said.

"Well, your songs are depressing on this album," Kendall said.

"I stand by the album and excuse me, the _Breaking Away _album had plenty of depressing songs on it, including all the I Hate Shane songs and the song about my parents' divorce. Come on!" Kelly said.

"I kind of agree with Kendall, neither one of you have that much to be upset about. Okay, it's awful,….what Ryan did, I agree but look what you got out of it," Lizzie said.

"That's how I look at Kendra. I mean, I got screwed and so did Kendra. Henderson Josh still won't acknowledge that he's the father. But I got this amazing gift and I look at her and that hatred for him just turns into sadness at what he is missing. One day, Ryan will have to explain to Allie and Daniel why he divorced their mom," Kendall said.

Jennie took deep breath and sat up. She looked towards the intercom on the wall that served as a baby monitor and heard Allie giggling and Kendra talking to her about a tea party. She stood up and walked upstairs towards Allie's room. She smiled as Kendra was placing a plastic tiara on Allie's head and Allie looking as if the Queen herself was playing with her. Jennie walked to Daniel's room next to see her son sleeping soundly in his crib. She needed to be happy for her children. She would get through it and she did, day by day until two years later, on her twenty ninth birthday in February of 2018, her friend James asked her out on a date. She accepted. James was an agent at the agency she was repped by and was best friends with her agent. James and Jennie slowly began a relationship. She was a little slow to jump in at first, but she felt good about this one. James was in his thirties and had also been through a painful divorce. Allie and Daniel also loved James and Jennie thought he was fantastic as well. He helped her believe in all of that love stuff again and then on her thirtieth birthday, he proposed

Her twenties had been a whirlwind. She became an Oscar winner, making a little over a million a movie. She got married, then divorced, had two children and was now engaged again and she was still working quite steadily. Ryan and Brandi had dated but broke up and Jennie came out of the marriage looking like the good one. Ryan looked like the cheater and his public approval went way down. Jennie did take a secret joy in that. Now though as she was three months into her thirtieth birthday, she was hoping for a much smoother ride in her thirties. She had accomplished all her dreams and now just wanted to enjoy what life had in store.

Right now, it was a wedding. Jennie smiled as she watched the bride and groom. She thought of her wedding. Never did she ever think she'd be planning a second wedding, but she excited for it because with James, she knew she had stability. Jennie looked over at Kelly, wondering what was going through her mind. After all, this could not be easy for her. Sure, she and the groom had broken up over ten years ago, but there still had to be a little bit of pain left over, after all she had written a Grammy Award winning album devoted to that pain.


	5. Chapter 5

** Kelly**

It's never easy to see your best friend and ex boyfriend getting married, but Kelly felt surprisingly okay with it. She had long ago accepted that perhaps they eventually would be getting married and she was just happy that she was there to finally be at a wedding. She had missed Miranda's and Jennie's first wedding, she wasn't sure when the second one would be but hoped that she would be in town for that. She had heard from Miranda that Lori's boyfriend, Rick would be proposing and she hoped to be in town for that. But right now she would just continue to enjoy where she was and what she was doing. She had turned thirty in Australia this past May, 21st. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would ever get the chance to celebrate that milestone in Perth, Australia. It was incredible, her band was there, her second family. She finally had the right group of people surrounding her. She had a concert in Perth that night and her band had brought a cake on stage and everyone sang Happy Birthday, her fans included which made her cry It didn't matter to her that she was the only single girl of her friends gathered around her at the wedding. She was just happy and a little jetlagged. Her tour had ended May 29th in China and the next day, she immediately got on a plane and flew to Los Angeles. It was a fifteen hour flight and China was fifteen hours ahead of L.A.. She left China at 3 am on May 30th after having very little sleep and then landed in L.A. at what would have been May 31th at 6 pm in China, but instead 3am in Los Angeles on May 31st. She wasn't quite sure. She just knew she arrived in Los Angeles, jet lagged and not all that tired. Of course now, it was four o'clock in the afternoon in L.A. on June 1st and she was still in China time so maybe her happiness for her friends was just the result of being delirously tired. It didn't matter though, she loved it. It was her life. She had worked hard and long and would not change a thing.

Kelly released her first album seven months after she won _Idol_. It was April of 2011. She was still twenty one and a month later, a few days before her twenty second birthday, she graduated from Julliard. It was a terrific spring. She remembered after the graduation ceremony, seeing her ex-boyfriend, Grant. He walked up to her and congratulated her on the new album. She barely spoke to him, wanting nothing to do with him.

Her first album which she had called, _Thank You, _which she dedicated to her friends, family and of course her fans. The album was difficult because her management did not know what to do with her and as a result, she got an album she wasn't in love with. Sure there were some songs on it like _Miss Independent_ and _Beautiful Disaster _that she still performed at her shows, because the fans loved them and she liked to sing them, but the rest she didn't couldn't really connect with. The album did well and went platinum. She released a few singles and she got a Grammy nomination for _Miss Independent_ although she did not win. That album caused her to switch management because she just felt that with the management she had, she would be pigeon hold into something she did not want to be which was this love ballad girl who sang about boys screwing around on her. It was that switch in management that caused the first of those, "Kelly is ungrateful for Idol" rumors and she never was and she would spend a big part of her career trying to prove that by performing on practically every season of _Idol _and even posting pictures on her of her celebrating her most recent anniversary of her idol win. It's only been recent that the rumors have died down, but the main reason she switched was so she could figure out who she was as an artist. She wanted to find management who would support that but her critics did not see it that way.

She did find that her favorite part of her job though was the touring. She didn't care too much about the critics, but the fans she loved. She loved connecting with them and meeting them. Being on stage was a rush so in August of 2011, while her friends were settling into adulthood, she kicked off her first tour. She toured the US until the second week of November in 2011. Her last show being in Minnesota. She flew home to her new apartment in Los Angeles, tired but ready to get to work on her next album. The rush of being with her fans was incredible and she wanted to go back. She also liked her band, although they never seemed to gel all that well off stage but she figured it just went with the territory. When she got back to Los Angeles, she made two big decisions, first she was going to move to Texas and second, she and David broke up. David was touring, promoting his album and Kelly was working on her new one. They hadn't really talked all that much in the three months she had been aways and they just grew apart. Kelly never wanted to live in Los Angeles anyway, and really niether did David. Kelly sold her apartment, thinking she enough friends in L.A. to stay with when she needed to be in Los Angeles and David moved back to St. Louis. Kelly found a home in Texas, right outside Houston which loved and considered her sanctuary. It was in this new home where she got to work on her second album.

This second album was called, _Breaking Away _catapulted Kelly into a different league and cemented her status as a legit artist. It was release in November of 2012. November 30th, 2012 to be exact. She was twenty three years old. This was the album where she put all the infamous "I Hate Shane" songs on them. She knew she had to tell him before the album dropped, lest he be shocked when bought the record. So one day, a week before the album dropped, she called Shane at work to break the news.

"So my second album is dropping in a week," Kelly said.

"Awesome," Shane said.

"And this is the album...the one that has 'Since U Been Gone' and 'Behind These Hazel Eyes'", Kelly said.

"Really?" Shane asked.

"Yeah...but I'm not going to mention your name. That would just be mean."

"You better not."

Kelly smiled and Shane seemed to be okay with it. She would never tell and never did, despite people always wanted to know who the songs were about. Kelly would play innocent and say she didn't know. Even when Kate Sanders told a media outlet that she knew the guy those songs were about, Kelly said Kate had no clue and because her credibility was far greater than Kate's, people believed her. The other song though that gained the most publicity was 'Because of You'. She had told her mom that she was going to release it and her mom was okay with it. Kelly thought it was an important song and her fans seemed to love it. The album itself went several times platinum and the singles, including the ones about Shane and her parents' divorce became megahits. She could not wait to tour with this album and this would be a tour that would end up having some incredible highs and some rock bottom lows.

Her tour began in March of 2013 and she toured the United States and Canada. She had spent her twenty fourth birthday at a concert in New York. Her bandmates didn't really do much and she ended up fighting with her guitarist, Dwight. This was the second tour she had been on with Dwight and it seemed that he really did not want to be there. Miranda took Kelly out for a birthday dinner. She had fun, although, it felt a little lonely. The tour ended eight days later in Canada and she began doing more press for the next tour. She took a month off and resumed the tour on July 1st, 2013, kicking off the tour in Texas. This leg of the tour seemed to be a little bit better, mainly because of the opening act, a guy named, Gavin Coleman. Gavin and Kelly spent every possible moment together. It was a long tour, lasting four months and ending right before Thanksgiving. It was also during this tour where she learned she had been nominated for two Grammy Awards. Something she had found out while being interviewed on the radio. It was an amazing high and was thrilled she got to share it with Gavin. She found herself really being the happiest when she was with him. He made her laugh and feel confident despite the fact that there was discord in her band. He even stayed with her during the holidays in Texas and flew to Los Angeles to celebrate New Years/Julie's 24th birthday. She really felt happy and it seemed to get better because with Gavin on her arm, February of 2014, Kelly won two Grammy Awards. She was in a cloud, she had never really thought what it would be like to win two Grammys. That just seemed too big and there she was, accepting them, beating out artists she idolized. This ended up being the highest point of 2014 and there can only be one thing that can happen when you reach the top, you come crashing down.

After the Grammy Awards, Kelly did her first international tour. She kicked this two month tour in Australia and then New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. It was unbelievably tiring but Kelly loved it, especially because they did not know her as a winner from a television show. She was just Kelly and it was amazing. She ended her show towards the middle of April in Austria and took a four month break or really worked on promoting her album some more. When she and Gavin got back to the States, they broke up. Once again, it was the schedule that took it's toll. Gavin wanted to work on his career and Kelly was busy with hers so when the tour started again in August of 2014, it began without Gavin, although she was not alone. She had rebounded rather quickly with a new guy, a songwriter named, Ted Ryans who helped Kelly write a lot of her songs and was a musician in his own right. She figured it could be fun, but it was this tour that ended up almost killing her, emotionally.

It was October 1st, 2014, towards the end of Kelly's two month long tour. It was Lori's twenty fifth birthday and for the celebration, Julie, Kendall, Shane, Lizzie, Gordo and Lori's boyfriend at the time had driven to Irvine to see her show. It was a show they would never forget and niether would Kelly because it was the night she hit rock bottom. The show had started as every other had. She sang, "Addicted" and went right into "I Hate Myself for Losing You" and it seemed to go well. Kelly gave several shot outs to her friend who was turning a quarter of a century that night and even had the whole audience sing Happy Birthday to Lori but then it was the end of the show and Kelly was singing "Walk Away" when she noticed the guitarist that she had many a problem with over the years flipping off the audience. She was livid. They had been fighting horribly the entire tour and Kelly was at her breaking point so right there, she fired him. Julie, Kendall, Shane, Lizzie, Gordo and Lori exchanged looks wondering if they had actually seen what they had just seen. Shane shivered a little seeing the look in Kelly's eye. He knew she was pissed. She finished the rest of the show without incident and ran off the stage to find Dwight.

"Get off my tour!" She yelled at him.

"Find! I'll save my dignity! My reputation is already tainted for working with a contest winner," Dwight said.

"Fuck you," Kelly said.

"Yeah, by the way, your boyfriend is cheating on you," Dwight said, winking and walking off.

Kelly let out a groan and walked off in search of Ted. She found him in her dressing room, with a letter in his hand.

"Oh, there you are Ted. I cannot believe Dwight. If he didn't want to be a guitarist for my band, he shouldn't have auditioned for it in the first place! Now, I have to find a guitarist for the last three shows. It's ridiculous. We have to be in Northern California tomorrow. And he said you were cheating on me which was...he is such a jerk!" Kelly said, ranting.

Ted looked at Kelly and bit his bottom lip. He looked very uncomfortable.

"Hey….Kel….we have to talk," Ted said.

Kelly cocked her head to the side when Ted handed her a letter he had written and explained to her that he would be leaving the tour as well. Being with Kelly, he explained showed him that he was still in love with his ex and wanted to marry her. Kelly felt her breath shorten and tears streaming down her face as she felt herself crumbling. She had to get out of there, she needed to be alone.

Kendall, Lori, Lizzie, Shane, Julie, Gordo and Lori's then boyfriend were searching for Kelly after the show. It had been a strange concert, she had fired a guitarist and then she had disappeared. She hadn't even gone to her post show Meet and Greet. They eventually found Kelly, sitting on the bathroom floor, rocking back and forth, sobbing. They gathered around her.

"Kel?" Shane asked.

"I'm tired….Ted dumped me. Dwight is an ass and I missed a Meet and Greet. I don't do that. I feel like I've been going and going and-I haven't-I need to stop," Kelly said.

"He dumped you?" Shane asked.

"For his ex," Kelly said.

"I'm sorry," Kendall said.

"Oh and Lori...I'm the worst friend ever. Happy birthday," Kelly said.

"Thank you...it was an interesting show," Lori said.

"Oh, G-d. That will be on You Tube, it will," Kelly said.

"Well, that and your Metal Skool performance while wearing a sweater vest," Lori said.

"That was awesome," Lizzie said.

"I hope you burned the vest," Kendall said.

"Yeah...alright, I'm going to quit," Kelly said.

"What?" Lori asked.

"Quit what?" Lizzie asked.

"This whole thing. It's too much. I know I'll let down fans, but they'll get over it. I just...I need to stop. I haven't stopped and I've missed so much and...I'm tired. I hate my band. I hate my management...I hate everything. I'm done. I quit. This isn't for me. I thought it was. But it's not," Kelly said.

"Are you that big of an idiot?" Gordo asked.

"Gordo, stop," Kelly said.

"No, he's right...you can't quit," Julie said.

"For my fans?" Kelly asked.

"For you. You have worked so hard for this. Don't give up now," Julie said.

Kelly sniffled as she continued to cry. Her friends comforted her and she did manage to finish off the last few shows and when she got home, she locked herself in her home in Texas and collapsed. She felt worn out and angry and turned to do what she always did when she felt that way, she wrote songs and wrote her third album called, _December _which many considered one of her more angry CDs. She took a eight months work on the album and just heal. She changed her management again, fired her band and hired new members, including two back up singers that she met at a meet and greet. She also recovered from her break up. She would not quit, but she would not go down without a fight. The album was released June 26th, 2015 and exactly a month later, she went on tour again. She was twenty six now and feeling refreshed and renewed. She loved her new band, they felt like the family she had wanted and she loved her new management. She did a four month long tour which ended right before Thanksgiving. It was the best tour she had been on in awhile. She had a lot of fun and a lot of memories were made. Kelly had climbed back up from rock bottom. She wasn't about to give up so easily.

After_ December_, she began working on her next album. This one had some depressing songs but some fun ones as well. It took almost two years but soon she finally released _All I Wanted_ on March 10, 2017 and began touring three months after. She celebrated her twenty eighth birthday in Iowa and had a terrific time. The first leg of the tour ended in June of 2017 where they took a break and started again in August where they toured again until October and a few days before the wedding, Kelly had completed her tours of _the All I _Wanted tour. She was thrilled, happy, tired and excited to see what her thirties would bring.


End file.
